A/N: Wow. So sorry for the long wait. School kind of eats your life. But the chapter's up now, so please enjoy! If you're still reading, that is, haha.

Harry raised his hand to knock on the door of the Burrow, but instead ran it through his hair, sighing. He had barely slept the night before, tossing and turning over what he was going to say to her. He couldn't even decide what his position on the matter was. On the one hand, he had Ginny, his girlfriend, who was so sweet and funny and incredible…she was his rock, she was always there for him. She was Harry's here and now, and he loved to see her smile and laugh, and would do anything to make her happy. Or so he thought, because on the other hand, he had never known his parents, and watching James, Lily, Sirius, and Remus in the Pensieve made him happy.

But did it make him happy? Sure, he liked to watch them, to learn about his family and the people who cared about him, but in the back of his mind, he knew they were dead. He was watching people who wouldn't get to live their lives. The war was brewing around them, and they had no idea what was in store…okay, Harry reasoned, yes, it was sad, but they were his family…

"Are you going to knock on the door or just stand there like an idiot?"

Harry was jolted from his thoughts by Ginny, who was standing in the doorway, arms crossed and face hardened. Harry opened his mouth, but couldn't think of what to say and then closed it. Ginny rolled her eyes and turned around, back into her house, but didn't close the door.

"Oi, Ginny, who's at the door?" called a voice from inside. Ron.

"Some idiot," Harry heard Ginny snap back. Harry followed her inside, but when he reached the kitchen, she was not there.

"Hey, mate, didn't know you were coming over today," said Ron. "Might wanna visit some other time, though, 'cause Ginny's been pretty mad latel—oh." Ron looked pointedly at Harry, putting two and two together. Dropping his voice, he asked, "What're you two rowing about?"

"She hasn't told you?"

"Well, she doesn't exactly come home and tell me all about her love life, does she? Did something happen last night?"

"Tell you later," said Harry shortly, leaving the kitchen and ascending the stairs to where Ginny's room was. The door was slightly ajar, and Harry peered inside. Ginny was lying on her bed, reading. She looked up.

"What?" she said bitingly.

"I'm here to…er…"

"Apologize for being an arse?" Ginny interrupted. Harry was tempted to nod, but he didn't. He still didn't know what he wanted.

"I'm here to talk," he said, a little louder than necessary, but his voice was steady this time.

"Fine. Talk," said Ginny offhandedly. Harry looked around the room, as though her walls and possessions could give him inspiration. They were no help to him, however, so he looked back at Ginny, who glared. He dropped his gaze. His eyes then found a nice spot around her knees and he began to speak.

"You don't understand," he said.

"I don't understand," she repeated, and Harry could hear the anger in her voice building.

"No," said Harry quickly, looking right at Ginny this time. "You don't. You have parents. My parents are dead, in case you haven't noticed—"

"My father was attacked by a snake," Ginny snapped back. "My brother is dead. I was dragged into the Chamber of Secrets by Lord Voldemort when I was eleven—"

"No, Ginny, this isn't about being too young, or stuff you've done or whatever," said Harry, frustrated. Though he loved how opinionated Ginny could be, now he wished she would just shut up. "This is about family. And I know some of your family is dead, but at least you remember them! You knew them! I don't know my family, and this is my chance, Ginny!" Harry suddenly realized he was pleading with her, but he didn't care.

"Is that why you think I'm angry?" Ginny demanded. "You think I'm trying to keep you from knowing your dead family?" She was yelling now, actually yelling, and Harry knew that if he said what he wanted to say, he would be sealing his own coffin, but he couldn't stop himself.

"Yeah," said Harry, "I guess I do."

"Harry, you are the thickest prat I have ever met in my life," she said darkly. "Get out."

"Gladly," Harry snapped, and he walked out onto the landing, slamming the door behind him so loudly that he didn't hear Ginny's sob.

The Great Hall was full of noise, though food had not yet appeared on the House tables. James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were sitting in the middle of the table, no doubt discussing something of extreme importance. Lily and her friends were a few seats down, looking the same as always. Lily's hair was pulled back into two braids, as usual, Alice was as blond and round-faced as always, though much tanner, Mary was talking animatedly, and Marlene had appeared to have grown at least three inches over the summer, making her look even more gawky and geeky than usual.

The doors to the Great Hall opened, and the chatter was replaced by applause as the new first-years filed in. Harry looked over at James, Sirius, Remus and Peter; Sirius' face had hardened slightly. He didn't seem angry…was he nervous? Harry thought he knew what this was about. He glided over to the first-years to get a better look as the Sorting Hat finished his song and McGonagall unfurled her long scroll of parchment.

"Allen, Stephanie!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Thunderous applause erupted from the Gryffindor table, accompanied by polite clapping from the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, and boos from the Slytherins.

"Aaronson, Pat!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Black, Regulus!"

Harry looked back over at Sirius, who was watching his little brother like a hawk. He wasn't glaring, he was simply watching. Regulus looked nervous, his dark hair short and neat and his robes perfectly clean and pressed. As he walked up to the stool, Harry saw that he was considerably shorter than Sirius. He put on the hat with shaking hands, and sat perfectly still, waiting for the verdict.

The hat didn't respond immediately. Thirty seconds passed. A minute. Another thirty seconds. The Hall began to buzz again; though the Sorting Hat had been known to take its time, it was rare that it would take two full minutes to make its decision. Sirius wasn't whispering, however. He appeared to be holding his breath. Until…

"SLYTHERIN!"

Regulus looked relieved and hopped off the stool to join the rest of the Blacks at the table. However, for a moment, his eyes locked with Sirius,' as though looking for approval. Harry looked back over at Sirius, and if approval was what Regulus was looking for, it wasn't what he was going to get. Sirius' face was etched with dislike and…something else. Could it have been disappointment?

The next memory took place in the boys' dormitory. "Merlin, I'm bored," James complained. He was sitting on his bed, levitating various things around the room with his wand, while the other boys were snatching their belongings out of the air, looking annoyed.

"Well, you could stop doing that," suggested Sirius a little angrily, snatching a comic out of the air.

"You know, we never actually welcomed the girls back to school," said Remus. The others looked at him, bemused looks on their faces.

"What are you suggesting, that we send them a muffin basket?" James asked wryly. Peter laughed.

"I was thinking along slightly more…malicious lines," Remus replied.

"That sounds a lot more interesting than a muffin basket," said Peter.

"I don't believe it. Is Remus, perfect, straight-O Remus, actually suggesting a prank?" Sirius asked, eyes wide.

"James, Sirius, you guys got your brooms?" Remus asked them, ignoring Sirius's jibe.

"Yeah," said Sirius, "we haven't gotten a chance to take them down to the storage cupboard yet." He gestured to a long, wrapped package lying next to his trunk.

"And James, we're gonna need your Invisibility Cloak."

James nodded.

"Excellent."

When the memory re-emerged, Harry was standing on the grounds, in the dark. The boys were missing. Remembering Remus' request of broomsticks and an Invisibility Cloak, Harry looked up and strained his ears. He couldn't hear a thing.

However, after a minute or so, a large trunk Harry recognized as Lily's was being levitated out the window. Harry assumed the girls were in the common room. Whoever had the wand was levitating all of the trunks onto the top of the tower. Once all of the trunks were put away, the boys took off the Cloak and flew back into their dormitory, but even through the closed window, Harry could hear their laughter.

He felt himself being dragged up the side of the castle, but instead of being dragged through his fathers' window, he found himself in the empty girls' dorms. He sat down on one of the beds and waited for something to happen. Sure enough, a few moments later, Alice and Lily walked through the door, laughing about something. When they looked around, however, they stopped abruptly.

"What happened?" Alice wanted to know. "Where's our stuff?"

"I don't know!" said Lily. She looked beneath all of the beds. "Alice, go get Marlene and Mary; their stuff is gone, too. I'll check the bathroom."

Alice nodded, and exited the dormitory, while Lily searched the bathroom, throwing open cupboards and rummaging through the drawers. The dormitory door opened again, announcing the presence of Mary, Marlene, and Alice.

"The bathroom's still in order," Lily informed them. Mary walked over and took in the mess of toothpaste, hairbrushes, and towels that had been strewn over the floor.

"That's debatable."

Lily ignored this, and walked passed her, pacing up and down the dormitory. "Who could have done this?"

"I'm gonna go tell the Prefects," said Marlene.

"Good idea," said Lily, as Marlene left the dormitory and ascended the stairs to the fifth-year dormitories.

"Who did this?" Lily demanded again, resuming her pacing.

"Maybe nobody did. Maybe it just got lost on the Hogwarts Express," suggested Alice.

"Maybe," said Lily, looking unconvinced.

"It would make sense," Mary conceded, sitting on her bed.

"No, it wouldn't," said Lily. "They enchant our luggage so it goes to our correct room during the feast. If they messed up the enchantment, then everybody's luggage would be in the wrong place. Someone must have done this."

"Who would want our stuff?" Alice asked her.

"I don't think anyone wanted it," said Lily, "I think this is someone's stupid idea of a joke." And without a word of explanation, Lily stalked out of the room. Harry followed her, reminded slightly of Hermione.

She made her way through the emptying common room and up the stairs to the boys' dorms. When she reached the landing, she banged on the door labeled, "SECOND YEARS," yelling, "Potter! Black! Open up!"

The door opened, revealing a rather surprised-looking Remus Lupin.

"Lily? It's late, you can't be up—"

"Where's our stuff?" she demanded, pushing passed Lupin and speaking directly to Sirius and James.

"What stuff?" asked Sirius blankly. "Oi, what do you think you're doing?!"

Lily had opened Sirius' trunk and was rummaging through his stuff, apparently in search of hers.

"Don't play dumb, you useless sack of—"

"Evans, he doesn't have it!" James said. Lily stopped.

"Where's our stuff, Potter?" She went over to his bed and searched underneath it.

"What's going on in here?" An older boy with a Prefect badge stuck to his pajamas had entered the room. Lily jumped up. "Hey! Girls aren't allowed in the boys' dormitories at night!"

"They took our stuff!" Lily told him angrily.

"What stuff?"

"Our stuff! Our things, our trunks! All of it!"

"No, we didn't," said Remus.

"Don't believe them! These boys are nothing but trouble!"

"You've just torn apart our room," said James, annoyed, "and your stuff isn't here."

"You're hiding it!" Lily said.

"Okay, okay, hold it," said the Prefect. "Listen, they couldn't have taken it. Boys can't get into the girls' dormitories."

"But—but then where is it?"

At that exact moment, Marlene, Alice, and Mary came stumbling in.

"They found our stuff," said Alice.

"They did?" said Lily, looking around at the boys. "Where was it?"

"On top of Gryffindor Tower," she said. "It must have accidentally been sent to the wrong place."

Lily stared at James and Sirius, as though determined to believe it was their fault, though not sure how.

"Good. You have your stuff back," said the Prefect. "So you girls can go back to your room now."

Very reluctantly, Lily allowed Marlene to lead her out of the dormitory, and back into their own room, where their trunks were waiting obediently by their beds.

"Potter had something to do with this," Lily muttered. "Our trunks didn't get sent to the wrong place. That doesn't happen. Potter did this."

"Why do you think Potter did it?" said Mary.

"This is exactly the kind of stupid, annoying, pointless prank he would pull," said Lily.

"Lily, I'm all for blaming Potter and stuff," said Marlene, "but I actually don't think they did it. Boys can't get up here. Remember what happened to Natalia Moore and Walter Wallace last term?"

Lily didn't answer. In fact, she didn't say another word as she changed (Harry closed his eyes for that), got into bed, and fell asleep.

The memory resumed the following morning at breakfast. James had gotten up from his seat, backpack slung over his shoulder, heading to his first class. Mary nudged Lily in the ribs, and pointed to him. Lily dropped her fork and made a beeline for James.

"Oi, Potter!" she said, and he turned around, though when he saw her, he seemed to wish he hadn't.

"Evans, for the hundredth time, I don't have your stuff."

"I know," she said. "I'm here to…er…apologize. So I'm sorry I thought you took our stuff. Even though it is something you would do."

"Okay, er, thanks," said James, looking wary.

"I mean it," said Lily, trying to sound like she really did. "And I also think we should…er…start over, or something."

"Start over?"

"Yeah, you know, start over. Then we don't have to hate each other or annoy each other and stuff."

"Evans, everything you could ever possibly do annoys me, including this," said James.

"Fine, Potter, be a jerk as usual," said Lily. "I came over here to try and make peace, but I guess you can't handle being mature." She started to walk away, but James called after her.

"What?"

"Fine, Christ, if you're going to get all emotional about it, I'll accept your stupid truce thing," said James. "But this doesn't mean we're friends."

"Like I would want that," said Lily. "It just means I ignore you, and you stop pranking me."

"Fine, whatever," said James unenthusiastically. "This ignoring thing starts now."

And he walked away.

A/N: Thanks to Kire2667, Hikari-and-Akari, Lady of Dreams2701, Ms. Estella Black, prongster, Jessluvsharry, the sudoku kid, wishfulthinking123, xsinglovelivedancex, FairoNeko, FallingForFootie, Dracoisalooker76, EdwardsLily, Swat56, cocodancer95, and lilyjames4ever15004. You guys are so awesome, and i don't deserve your awesomeness. Although I hope you will review anyways!